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01 July 2017

At the age of 7, Tim, a Silken Windhound, decided to become terrified of thunder and other loud noises. The first incident was during a wind and rainstorm -- no thunder -- and involved several rapid power off-and-ons, which sent him fleeing into the dark yard in the torrential downpour. I found him huddled in the corner where the fences meet, under some pine trees, and had to crawl in, drag him out, then carry him into the house.

I had some alprazolam (generic Xanax) and Trazodone (another anti-anxiety drug) that had been prescribed for a different dog, and gave him those. He finally fell asleep, trembling in my arms. From that night foreward, he began reacting to all kinds of things: Wind, rain, the sound of my generator running through its weekly systems check, people coming into the house to do work (this, from the world's most social dog), and of course, thunder and fireworks.

Since that day we've also been on a journey to find him some relief. We've checked him for Cushings and thyroid disease. He had a spinal tap and MRI, looking for brain tumors or nervous system infections. We've seen a boarded behaviorist. I've tried a Thundershirt, Adaptil, omega-3 fatty acids, lavender oil, Solliquin, Zylkene, and several other herbal and holistic remedies, as well as many different medications and combinations of medications.

It's been exhausting.

Some of those things helped a little bit, but nothing really got him the kind of quality of life I found acceptable, let along got him back to his old self. He was in a constant state of terror that seemed only to abate when he was deeply sedated. It was a nightmare, and I was getting to the point where I was considering euthanasia to relieve his suffering.

I was actually hoping he had a brain tumor so there would be something we could treat, that's how desperate I was.

Then his behaviorist prescribed Sileo.

This drug has been miraculous for Tim. Its effect is fast and amazing. It even appears to be reducing his reactivity over time; he no longer reacts, for instance, to the tornado warning signal test siren or the sound of the generator running its weekly test cycle.

It's also blessedly cut his post-incident recovery phase to zero; the minute the noise is over, Tim is normal. This period used to last days after a serious event.

Problem solved? Actually, no. Of course, like all drugs, Sileo has potential side effects, but given the seriousness of Tim's condition and how close to euthanasia we had come, I was and am willing to risk those. To understand the problems, consider this: They're predicting thunderstorms lasting from 4:30 pm this afternoon until 12:30 pm tomorrow. That's twenty hours.

If that actually happens, that's twice the period during which you can give Sileo, which was brought to market on the absurd assumption that "noise incidents" wouldn't last beyond 10 hours.

You have to dose it every two hours. You can only give five doses before you're supposed to stop for an unspecified amount of time that, when I contacted the company, was told is ten hours.

So essentially:

If you work and don't have your dog with you when storms or other triggers begin, this drug is useless.

If you live somewhere thunderstorms regularly last more than 10 hours, you're screwed.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, when fireworks go on for days, you have to guess about when to begin giving the drug and how best to spread it out.

What's more, while I haven't had any problems using the applicator or locking mechanism to control the dosage, apparently some owners do, leading to reports of accidental overdose.

My life this summer has been a constant vigil looking at weather reports, and trying to plan how I'm going to get Tim's Sileo into him before the thunder begins, and keep giving it to him at appropriate intervals to last the entire incident without hitting our maximum number of doses before the incident ends.

If this was a drug that could be dosed like Trazodone or alprazolam, I could give it to him "just in case," then leave the house or have him pre-medicated before a storm hit while I was asleep at night. (While either or both have worked very well for other dogs, Trazodone and alprazolam did not help Tim and in fact, made him worse.)

When the stars align, it may be a miracle, but the dosing schedule, period of efficacy, directions for use, and delivery method are all preposterous. And although it doesn't really affect me because Embrace Pet Insurance pays all but 20 percent of the amount, it's also very expensive.

They have to do better with this drug. It works too well for desperate and terrified dogs to have its effectiveness hampered by these limitations. They need to develop a sustained release formula that can be administered over a longer period of time or at least without such a long washout period between incidents. And they need to make the application/administration idiot-proof.

I suppose adding "reduce the cost" is a hopeless dream when I've added many costly features to the drug, but it really breaks my heart to know how many dogs can't take it because it's unaffordable.

Tim is now on only two drugs all the time: Generic Zoloft and a low dose of gabapentin, an anti-seizure and nerve-pain drug that also has mild anti-anxiety effects. These, combined with the way Sileo seems to stop the cumulative worsening we'd been seeing after each incident, have managed his day-to-day anxiety to the point that he's like himself again between triggering events, and recovers rapidly from those that occur. His life is more than acceptable, it's good. I am incredibly grateful for this, but still hope for more, for Tim and for other dogs, in the near future. Paws and fingers are crossed at our house.

Disclosure: I didn't realize when I've commented on Sileo on my social media before that it's made by Zoetis. I occasionally write freelance articles for Zoetis for Shelters, their animal sheltering newsletter. I have no other ties to the brand, and did not receive any form of compensation, discount, or free product for this or any other post about Sileo.

31 January 2016

I have never really explained what happened to my dog Rawley, although if you follow me on Facebook you probably know much of this, with the exception of the biopsy results.

The night of Dec. 20, I was tickling Rawley's tummy. I did this all the time; I'd definitely done it before I'd left on a week-long business trip the week before, and hadn't noticed anything wrong.

This time, I found some kind of growth at the base of his penis. I took him to the vet ER at Michigan State University the next morning, where they did a fine needle aspirate and found it was malignant.

They couldn't tell what kind of tumor it was, and I okayed a tru-cut biopsy, another kind of needle biopsy. They tried to schedule an appointment with the surgeon on Jan. 25, but I insisted it be dealt with sooner, holidays or no holidays -- it was huge, and hadn't been there the week before. I couldn't even imagine how big it would be in more than a month.

I went home and was paralyzed with worry and grief. I got Rawley after my mother's horrible death from cancer, and this seemed to unlock all those dark memories and emotions. I got myself mobilized just enough to enlist Rawley's wonderful internal medicine vet, Dr. Stacey Wylie there at MSU, to try and get them to schedule his surgical appointment sooner. She got him an appointment with the chief of soft tissue surgery, Dr. Bryden Stanley, on Jan. 4.

On Dec. 26, they called and told me the tru-cut biopsy was also inconclusive, but there was a possibility it was an atypical osteosarcoma. They suggested doing some sort of stains to diagnose it further; the minute I heard the word "osteosarcoma," my brain pretty much shut off and I couldn't really think.

Dec. 30 was Rawley's sixth birthday.

Up until Jan. 2, he had been totally unaware anything was wrong. That night, however, he seemed uncomfortable, and kept licking at the tumor that now mostly covered his penis and a substantial area of his groin on either side. The growth had doubled in size since Dec. 20.

On Jan. 4, we went in for his appointment. The results of the stains still weren't back, but he had x-rays and a CT scan, which found no metastases. Dr. Stanley was very positive about surgical removal.

I felt, for the first time, like I could breathe. Like there was hope.

The next morning, his surgery was scheduled for 11 AM, but he didn't go in until around 3 PM. I was able to stay with him all day in the private room they have for people who have lost a pet. Despite that sad association, it was carpeted, had two sofas, and was quiet and comfortable. I brought in a big dog bed for him, and lay down next to him on it and talked to him for hours while he dozed. It was incredibly peaceful.

They finally came for him. The surgery took over 5 hours. They had to amputate his penis and rebuild his urethra. They weren't sure there was enough skin to close the wound, so they told me they'd have to hobble his rear legs so he wouldn't put any pressure on the incision. Since no dog would tolerate that willingly, they said he would have to be kept heavily sedated.

I finally went home at around midnight the night of the 5th. I went back the next day to visit him, and while very sedated, he seemed comfortable.

The next morning, Jan. 7, at around 11 AM they called and told me they were going to let the sedation wear off and see if he could stand and walk, as the incision seemed okay. They said he might be able to go home Sunday. I said I was planning on coming that afternoon to see him, which they said was fine.

I was on a work call a little later, planning on going to see him the minute it was over. My call waiting showed a call from the hospital. I answered it, and they told me he was in respiratory failure and I needed to come immediately. It was an hour and 10 minute drive, and during it they called me twice to ask if I wanted him on a ventilator and if his heart stopped, did I want them to resuscitate him if it meant opening his chest.

I begged them to keep him alive until I got there if there was any way to do it without torturing him.

The rest is still really hard for me to talk about. I came into the reception area, and just pushed ahead of everyone and told them the surgical resident, Dr. Marturello, called and my dog was dying in the ICU. The receptionist got a strange look on her face and I said, "Did he die?" and started to sob. She said she didn't know, and then the resident was there, pulling me down the hall.

She had tears running down her face.

So did the whole ICU team, the anesthesiologist and the technicians, the veterinary student, everyone. They had Rawley on a table, intubated, sedated, and they were all standing around him, in tears.

For a few minutes I didn't know what I should do. I wanted to tell them to save him, to wait until we at least knew what kind of tumor we were dealing with. I wanted so desperately to bring him home somehow, even for one day, and let him die there, not in that hospital.

"Whatever the tumor is, it's very aggressive," Dr. Marturello said through her tears.

I had one of those proverbial moments of clarity, and felt sure that we were done. They helped ease him out of life while I held him and said the things to him I'd always said to him: That he was the best, most handsome man in all the land, my tiny man, my sweet boy.

Then I thanked them all and went and sat in the lobby on a bench for two hours, because I couldn't even walk to the car.

I didn't have a post-mortem exam done. We did get the biopsy results: not osteo. It was something called a carcinosarcoma, a rare malignant tumor made up of two kinds of cells. They think what actually sent him into respiratory failure was a blood clot going to his lungs. I think they're right.

The only thing left to say is that I wish I hadn't done the surgery, just brought him home for a few more days until he was too uncomfortable. I wish I had known how it would end before I had to make so many decisions. But I didn't, and I made the best decisions I could.

30 September 2015

If your dog has struvite stones, he has a bladder infection. He doesn't need a special diet and he doesn't need his urinary pH adjusted. He needs his infection diagnosed and treated.

(To be perfectly accurate, there is a condition known as "sterile" or "metabolic" struvites that occurs very, very rarely in the dog. This condition isn't just a zebra, however; it's a unicorn. I'll say more about it later on.)

Why do dogs with urinary tract infections have struvite stones? Why do they so often have alkaline urine?

The urine becomes alkaline for the same reason the stones form: Because the urease-producing bacteria that usually cause canine UTIs produce magnesium, phosphate, and ammonium as waste products. The urine becomes super-saturated with these waste products. Add it all together, shake well, and you have struvite stones. It was once believed that the alkaline urine "caused" struvite stones, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Rather, it's now believed they are caused by the same thing, the bacterial waste products. In fact, sometimes struvite stones are called "triple phosphate" or "M.A.P" for "magnesium, ammonium, phosphate."

Should you acidify the urine of a dog with struvite stones to dissolve the crystals?

This is sort of like cutting the wire to the "check engine" light instead of fixing the engine. Diagnose and treat the bladder infection and the urinary pH will resolve naturally.

Won't acidifying the urine kill the bacteria?

That's a very common belief, expressed quite often on holistic email lists, but it's not true. While many bacteria don't like acid mediums, some do. More to the point, it's impossible to get bodily fluids and tissues acid enough to actually kill bacteria. There are bacteria that can live in vinegar (in fact, without some of them we wouldn't have vinegar). And as fast as you are acidifying the urine, the bacteria are in there alkalinizing it. The solution is to diagnose and treat the bladder infection. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

OK, how do you diagnose and treat a bladder infection?

To diagnose a bladder infection, you need to perform a test known as a urine culture. This should be done in combination with a sensitivity test to determine what antibiotics will be effective against the bacteria. It's helpful also to do a urinalysis, but you cannot diagnose a bladder infection, nor effectively treat it, with urinalysis alone.

A urine culture and sensitivity test will take about three days to run. If the dog has obvious symptoms, it's not unreasonable to begin antibiotic therapy before the results are known, as long as the urine sample is obtained before giving antibiotics. Antibiotics present in the urine will prevent bacteria from growing in the culture. Once the sensitivity results are in, if the chosen antibiotic was not appropriate, you can switch at that point.

Be absolutely sure to give your dog the entire prescribed course of antibiotics, as stopping the treatment too soon can create drug-resistant infections that are almost impossible to treat. If your dog has side effects from the antibiotics, even if the symptoms are gone, contact your vet instead of just stopping the drug.

But there were bacteria in the urinalysis, so why can't we just go ahead and treat without doing the culture and sensitivity?

A lot of vets do this, some because that's what they've always done and some because the clients won't pay for the extra testing. But this isn't a good idea for a number of reasons.

One, sometimes some other kind of debris is mistaken for bacteria. A properly obtained urine sample is less likely to have debris that is hard to differentiate.

Two, you can't tell what bacteria they are, so you have no real idea if you're choosing an effective antibiotic.

Three, if therapy fails, you won't really know what to do next. Was it the wrong antibiotic? Is this a new infection with a different organism? Is the problem something other than an infection?

Four, a culture done before, and again after, treatment gives you a yardstick to measure the success of your therapy.

My dog's urine culture was negative, but he has struvite stones. Does he have "sterile struvites"?

He might. He might also have an infection with a bacteria that doesn't grow in the culture that was used, or he might be infected with a bacteria that grows in tissue rather than urine. You can request a special, separate culture for mycoplasma/ureaplasma. If that, too, is negative, you can consider doing a biopsy of the bladder wall. However, at that point, many vets will instead put the dog on a trial of a drug effective against mycoplasma/ureaplasma, as a bladder wall biopsy is a very invasive test.

But yes, your dog might in fact have sterile struvites, in which case your vet's recommendation of a special diet and urinary acidification will be right on track. But those things are not appropriate for the vast, overwhelming majority of struvite stone cases, which are caused by infections that need to be diagnosed and treated.

My dog doesn't have struvite stones and he doesn't have a bladder infection, but he has struvite crystals. What should I do? Does he need a special diet?

If he has no symptoms and no stones and no infection, you don't need to do anything. Perfectly healthy dogs often have struvite crystals in their urine, and sometimes they will form due to the way the urine is handled. This finding is not significant.

Do I have to use antibiotics? Can't I treat the infection and stones with herbs and diet, even if acidifying the urine isn't enough?

There is no diet that will help treat a bladder infection, although of course proper nutrition will help a dog be more disease resistant in general. There are herbs that can help treat a bladder infection. Some of them are very potent, and are also powerful diuretics. Other, gentler herbs are also used in treating UTIs. Use them only as recommended by your qualified holistic vet, preceded and followed by a urine culture to make sure your treatment worked, just as you would do with antibiotic therapy. Don't cut corners and don't try to treat this on your own.

How can I dissolve the stones after I get the infection treated?

Most of the time, the stones will dissolve on their own once the infection is gone. If not, you can use urinary acidification or special diets temporarily to dissolve the stones. The commercial prescription diet S/D, formulated to dissolve struvites, is not intended for longterm feeding so should be discontinued when the stones are gone. Very rarely, surgery is necessary to remove the stones.

My dog gets infections over and over again. What causes that?

Your dog might not be getting infected over and over again; he might have one infection that is never fully eradicated. Doing a culture and sensitivity, then repeating the culture after treatment is finished, should clarify that situation.

However, some dogs have structural defects or other medical problems that cause them to suffer recurrent bladder infections. Other dogs have had surgical procedures such as a urethrostomy, which can make them more susceptible to bladder infections. Conditions such as Cushings also increase the incidence of bladder infections. Owners of dogs who suffer recurrent UTIs should ask their vet to refer them to an internal medicine specialist or veterinary college for an in-depth workup.

08 February 2014

A couple of months ago, my friend (sister with different DNA, really) Gina Spadafori regained the right to use her PetConnection.com domain again. We discussed opening up the old Pet Connection archive there (my posts were all copied over to this blog, but the PC archive itself, including everyone else's posts, was inaccessible). And once we started down that road, we thought: Should we start blogging there again?

We decided HELL YES, and then we invited two of our favorite dog people on Planet Earth, Kim Campbell Thornton and Liz Palika, to come back, along with our beloved Dr. Tony Johnson.

All said yes, although Tony will only be an infrequent contributor. And we also made the vow: NO ads. NO sponsors. NO mealy mouthed BS. This is just all of us blogging about animal issues for no reason other than a desire to communicate.

So I hope those of you who missed Pet Connection will visit the blog once again, and those of you who missed its heyday will stop by and help us make a new one!

09 September 2013

Okay, our "lower 40" is more like the lower 2, but the point is, I took a deep breath, crunched many painful numbers, talked to my landlady and some fence experts, and made the decision to invest in fencing off another big chunk of the property.

It was a tough decision for two reasons. One, the lay of the land makes it hard to fence, thanks to a very pretty but inconvenient gully dividing the currently fenced portion of my lot and the remaining acres. Two, I'm renting, and investing money into a rental property feels an awful lot like flushing the money down the toilet.

I also am on a crusade to wipe out the last bit of my personal debt and to re-build the savings I lost during the collapose of the economy and my mother's last year of life.

Despite all that, my longing to walk my dogs off-leash in the woods this winter was so strong I decided to see if there was some way I could economize enough to build the fence. I trimmed some fat in my budget, took a couple of extra small contracts to boost the income a tiny bit, and worked out a plan to buy the fencing materials this month, pay the fence guys next month, and buy the automatic gate opener and have it installed in November. (I can just work the gate manually until then. It won't kill me!)

This way, I get the fence without incurring any debt, and am able to pay for it out of my latte, new clothes, and pedicure budget -- in other words, out of my trimmed fat.

For those who roll their eyes and wonder why my dogs aren't trained to come when called, they are. But I have sighthounds, and I'm sure if they were your dogs, they'd be so perfectly reliable on their recalls that you could call them off a stampeding herd of deer with a single word. I, however, don't choose to put my dogs' life at risk in a land of hunters and fast drivers to prove what an awesome trainer I am. So please, save me the lecture. I've heard it all before.

So consider yourselves warned: Come October, you'll be inundated with YouTube video of my dogs racing around the autumnal woods of Michigan! We can't wait!

23 February 2013

I understand wanting background checks for buying weapons, but to join a dog diet email list?

My Val has PLN, a progressive kidney disease common in Greyhounds. I was thinking of making some diet and supplement changes, and went to join a list I used to belong to, the K9KidneyDiet Yahoo Group.

I filled out the brief form Yahoo provides, and got this in reply:

Hello, and thank you for requesting membership to the K9KDiet Group.
Please take a moment to provide us with the following information:
(NOTE: The short comment that was filled out at the YahooGroups site
when requesting an application for membership does NOT supercede or take
the place of the following Membership Application).

The initial inquiry you sent to Yahoo is held for 5 days. If the
Membership Application (below) is not completed and returned we will
understand you changed your mind, and will remove the initial inquiry
from pending.

PLEASE NOTE:
WE TAKE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF OUR MEMBERS VERY SERIOUSLY. TO THAT
END, A CONDITION OF INITIAL AND CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP IS VERIFIABLE,
ACCURATE, AND COMPLETE INFORMATION WHICH IDENTIFIES YOU AS WHO YOU STATE
YOURSELF TO BE. THIS INFORMATION IS NEVER SHARED WITH THE LIST
MEMBERSHIP, AND LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE LIST OWNERS AND MODERATORS
FOR VERIFICATION PURPOSES.

Also note that none of the (below) information will be shared or
conveyed to any group member at any time. It is MANDATORY that you
answer ALL the questions, completely and accurately to be considered for
membership.

1.) Paid Primary Email Account (Mandatory):

2.) The email account you intend to use for mail from this group:

3.) Your Full Name , Address, City/State, and Phone:

4.) Kennel Name (if Applicable):

5.)Your website (if Applicable):

6.) The breed of dog(s) you own:

7.) A short intro/reason as to why you wish to join K9KidneyDiet (i.e.,
is your dog in renal failure, does he/she have bladder stones, chronic
urinary tract infections, etc.):

8.)

(a) How did you learn about this list?

(b)If from a fellow member, or other individual, please include their name:

9.) Are you a list owner and/or moderator of any other pet-related online group? Please list all:

10.) Are you a member of any other pet-related online group? Please list all:

11.) Do you own or work for a pet-related company? Please explain:

12.) Are you a Veterinary Professional? A Medical Professional? Please list your position and affiliation:

THE APPROACH TO KIDNEY DISEASES IS NOT 'ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL'. MEMBERS
HERE HAVE GAINED QUITE A LOT OF FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WITH THEIR OWN
DOGS OVER MANY YEARS AND IT IS THAT WHICH WE SHARE. WE ARE NOT
VETERINARIANS. MEMBERS WILL NOT, AND CANNOT DIAGNOSE OR PRESCRIBE. THEY
SIMPLY SHARE WHAT THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN. No member claims to
have a "magic bullet" or the know-how for curing any ailment. Opinions
expressed on this list are not necessarily those of the list owners,
&/or moderators. What may work for one dog may not work for another.
IT IS UP TO EACH MEMBER TO FULLY RESEARCH ANYTHING READ ON
K9KIDNEYDIET AND TO DISCUSS IT WITH THEIR OWN VETERINARIAN(S).

WE STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE BETTER WE UNDERSTAND KIDNEY DISEASE THE
BETTER PREPARED WE CAN BE TO HELP OUR DOGS. WE ALSO ADVOCATE FORGING
PARTNERSHIPS WITH OUR VETERINARIANS. WE FEEL THE BEST OUTCOMES COMBINE
OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISEASE WITH STRONG PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
WITH OUR DOGS’ VETERINARY TEAM.

The diet of a renal dog can seldom stay the same for long. Predictable
changes in taste & preference are a challenge. Experiences are
shared on how others have handled similar situations. K9KD is not a
storehouse of recipes. Each dog is unique in presentation, and
preferences. Focus is on home - prepared foods. It is expected that
while not all will agree on feeding methods and treatment protocols, all
members will treat each other with respect in regard to individual
opinions.

While K9KDiet is a supportive group, it is important to point out that
we are not a Support Group, and our focus is on discussion and
understanding of the physical aspects of kidney diseases and associated
complications. Regardless, an emotionally supportive and respectful
environment is expected at all times. Flaming, disrespect, sarcasm &
passive aggressive behavior is not permitted.

K9KDIET IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY OTHER GROUP, FORUM, OR LIST.
Upon approval to the group, a questionnaire will be emailed along with
informational documents that other list members found helpful in the
beginning. The questionnaire provides a point of reference in regard to
what you have done so far with your dog, what your dogs' Veterinarian
has advised, and what treatment plan you have chosen.

We ask you to refrain from asking general questions before submitting
the questionnaire. It is difficult, if not impossible to form a credible
overall 'picture' of your dog via multiple emails over a period of
days. We have found the questionnaire to be a reliable and time saving
method to create a 'snapshot' with which to begin.

******** DISCLAIMER: K9KDiet is a list for sharing ideas, opinions and
information only. The information on K9KD is not intended to be used as
veterinary advice, or to replace consultation with a qualified
Veterinarian. WE ARE NOT VETERINARIANS, (although we have Veterinarian
members), and WE DO NOT PRESCRIBE. No member claims to have a "magic
bullet" or the know-how for curing any ailment. Opinions expressed on
this list are not necessarily those of the list owners, &/or
moderators. What may work for one dog may not work for another. To that
end, it is up to each individual member- individually and independently -
to thoroughly research anything shared on this list and to speak to
their Veterinarian. K9KD OWNERS, MODERATORS, AND MEMBERS, SHALL BE HELD
HARMLESS FROM ANY GRIEVANCE OR ACTION BY ANY LIST MEMBER. NOTE: K9KD
POSTS AND FILES AND/OR PORTIONS THEREOF ARE COPYRIGHTED, AND MAY NOT BE
REPRODUCED, FORWARDED or SHARED without express written permission from
both the author and the list owners.

YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF MEMBERSHIP ACKNOWLEDGES YOUR AGREEMENT WITH AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS STATED ABOVE.

Promotion, marketing, and/or sales of any product to K9KD members is not
allowed, on or off list. If any member contacts you with offers to
sell or promote any specific product or service, we ask that you notify
us by sending an email to K9KidneyDiet-owner@yahoogroups.com

At first I laughed, then I got pissed off, and then I just had to come here and share this paranoid insanity with you all.

I own and have owned many email lists. I get wanting a disclaimer. I get wanting to know a little bit about the people joining your list. I get reminding them of the "rules of the road." But there is no shortage of places to get information about canine kidney diets without having to give fingerprints and a DNA sample.

So by all means, K9KidneyDiet moderator, remove my application from your files. I wonder how many people have been so desperate to get information to help their sick dogs they just gritted their teeth and filled this out? And I wonder how many, like me, just walked away -- people who perhaps didn't have the skills and experience to find the information they needed somewhere else?

22 February 2013

There are many reasons why people don't take their pets to the veterinarian. "Because the vet will make me do something I don't want to do" shouldn't be one of them.

I've been a pet writer since 1991. In that time, I've probably received enough snail mail and email asking questions about pet health, diet, and behavior to fill my house. So I think I'm qualified to identify a trend that has persisted over time.

Someone writes me with several paragraphs -- or pages -- about their pet's medical issues. They list the symptoms they've observed, the remedies they've tried, and lots and lots of minute details about the time of day the pet exhibits certain symptoms, the color and consistency of discharges, and the entire history of every bite of food said pet has ever consumed.

In a huge percentage of these missives, nowhere are the opinion of the pet's veterinarian, the results of the veterinarian's physical exam, nor any diagnostic tests mentioned.

The only way I ever respond to this type of letter is by asking, "What did the vet say?"

Sometimes they reply telling me what the vet said, but usually they say they haven't been to the vet, even in the cases of pets with fairly troubling symptoms that have persisted for weeks or months.

Now, I realize that some pet owners cannot afford to go to the vet, or can only do so if it's a dire and acute emergency. There are some resources to help these pet owners get care for their pets, but they're not easy to find and don't usually cover the entire amount. It's a bad situation and I sympathize with the people caught in it.

They're not who I'm talking about here.

I'm talking about the ones who respond to my query about the vet with some variation on the following sentence: "I don't want to go to the vet because he'll just put him on antibiotics," or whatever treatment the person doesn't want the pet to receive, or thinks will be futile.

Let me explain this as simply as I can: No veterinarian can "put your pet" on anything without your consent. And if they try, it's your responsibility as your pet's owner to ask for something more from your veterinarian than to have a prescription shoved in your face.

If that seems overwhelming to you, I understand. Confronting authority is hard. Learning to have an equal and productive partnership with an authority figure is also hard. Hell, finding a good veterinarian is hard, let alone one who is located within driving distance and has good communication skills.

But here's the thing: Your pets can't find their own veterinarians, can't advocate for better care, can't even tell the vet where it hurts. They are entirely dependent on you to do that.

If you feel your veterinarian doesn't listen and doesn't see you as a partner, you need to either speak with her about that and see if you can fix things, or find a veterinarian with whom you have some rapport.

Additionally, even if you have a hard time communicating with your veterinarian, he may still have extremely valuable information about your pet's condition to give you. Vets have, after all, seen thousands of pets with these same symptoms. They know what diagnostic tests are available and which are likely to narrow down the diagnostic and treatment possibilities for your pet.

They can also write prescriptions for pain medication as well as drugs for bacterial, viral, or fungal infections that might be at the root of a pet's symptoms.

If nothing else, they can help you rule out a lot of things you were "treating" your pet for with your home remedies, and ideally allay your worst fears.

Of course, just as there are vets who have poor communication skills, there are vets who don't practice good medicine. They don't keep up with advances in the field, don't use good diagnostic skills, and shove an antibiotic and/or steroid at everything. These are bad vets, and you shouldn't be giving them your money in the first place. The answer, however, is not to stop going to the vet, but to find a good vet.

You may be locked out of the pet health market by finances, or live somewhere there simply are few or no veterinarians, but your own lack of backbone should not be allowed to compromise your pet's health, nor prevent you from accessing the information necessary to make an informed decision about her care.

You can set the stage for better care the minute the vet enters the exam room by telling him you're not just looking for a prescription, but a diagnosis and an understanding of your pet's condition before the exam. Be friendly but clear. You may find your vet welcomes a client who really wants to get to the bottom of a pet's health condition; many people actually get pissed off when their vets want to run diagnostic tests, assuming they're just doing it to pad the bill.

Even before that appointment, go to trustworthy veterinary sites -- I highly recommend VeterinaryPartner.com, the pet owner website of the Veterinary Information Network -- and search for accurate information about the conditions you suspect your pet has. See what diagnostics are usually done in these cases, and what the treatment options might be. This can help when you're in the exam room with your veterinarian.

Still too overwhelming? I get it. Maybe you're shy, or maybe you're just too close to the issue to be objective. Find a friend or family member with more detachment to come with you and ask the tough questions.

Finally, remember that taking some time to consider your options is not just okay, it's admirable. If your veterinarian tells you something you don't understand or don't like, tell her you would like to think about it, unless she feels that would put your pet's life at risk.

Maybe you just need a few minutes to re-group. Maybe you need to sleep on it. Unless your pet needs emergency surgery or is really suffering, a few hours or a day usually won't make that much difference.

Ask your veterinarian to give you a written diagnosis and include any information you want to consider, including costs. If you came alone, get on the phone and talk it over with a trusted friend. Or go home and visit some of those reliable Internet websites again, and see what you can find out online.

If you're still unsure, either because you think the vet missed something or because you can't afford everything that was suggested, ask your vet for options. Be honest and open about financial constraints, or things you don't understand.

If the vet acts as if you're being unreasonable, get as much out of this particular appointment as you can, and as soon as possible, start your search for a new veterinarian who will welcome a client who is thoughtful and thorough.

But don't just slink away into the darkness whining about what you think your veterinarian will do or say. When you do that, you're abdicating a huge hunk of the very real obligation you have to your pet: To be her advocate, and take care of her as best you can. Be strong. Keep the faith.

20 February 2013

If veterinarians want pet owners to trust what they say about feeding their dogs and cats, they should stop trying to mislead us with twisted science.

The American Veterinary Medical Assocation (AVMA) publishes a great email newsletter called SmartBrief, which shares interesting animal health-related stories five days a week. I've subscribed to it since it launched, and I find it extremely useful.

I've noticed that they write blurbs and headlines for the stories they link to, both to make them more "clickable" and, sometimes, to focus on a piece of the story that's more relevant to their veterinary audience than the story as a whole. That's fine. That's editorial judgment. As an editor myself, as well as a reader, I like that.

Today, however, they plopped a headline on a story from Phys.Org about a recent study on the nutrient composition of raw meat: "Study: Raw meat falls short on feline nutrition."

In case that wasn't enough to carry their message, this is the blurb they wrote to go along with the article:

New
research has found that raw meat diets do not meet the full spectrum of
feline nutritional needs for captive and domestic cats. The study
evaluated horse, bison, cattle and elk meat. All the diets were short on
linoleic acid, and the horse meat did not contain sufficient
arachidonic acid for kittens or for gestating or lactating females. A
raw diet fed to domestic cats often omits necessary fat and important
fatty acids and exposes cats to pathogens that may be in raw food, and
it can also promote a change to the gut flora.

This seemed odd to me. Why would raw meat have a different nutrient profile than cooked meat? Why are we even discussing horsemeat, pretty much the only mammal meat I haven't seen used in homemade or commercial raw diets (or cooked diets, for that matter)?

So I clicked over, expecting to see one of those studies where the researchers scraped three-day-old road kill off the highway and analyzed it for bacterial contamination to scare those of us feeding raw diets into rushing down to the market and picking up a sack of kibble.

But no. What I see is an interesting, impartial study on the varying nutrient profiles of different types of meat commonly fed in zoos: bison, cattle, horses, and elk.

The actual headline: "Raw meat diets may not be enough for cats or tigers."

Then there's the sub-head: "Animal scientists say a raw
meat diet is a good source of protein for cats, but pet owners may need
to supplement with other nutrients."

So, a raw meat diet is a good source of protein for cats, but pet owners may need to supplement it with other nutrients. Okay. Since I'm not aware of a single homemade diet that consists of nothing but meat, cooked or raw, this appears to be a pretty innocuous, dare I say obvious, statement.

From the PhysOrg story:

[Researchers] found that raw meat diets met many nutrient requirements for cats, but there were some gaps. None of the diets contained the recommended levels of linoleic acid, the horsemeat did not provide the levels of arachidonic acid recommended for kittens, gestating females and lactating females.

This research is important for animal scientists, zoos and pet owners.

The researchers explain that captive tigers, jaguars and African wildcats were traditionally fed horsemeat-based raw diets. "With the closing of horse abattoirs in 2007, the availability of quality grade horsemeat in the United States has decreased, increasing the need for research on the digestibility and composition of possible alternatives," write the researchers.

There is also a growing trend of raw meat diets for domestic housecats. Kelly Swanson, associate professor in animal science at the University of Illinois and coauthor of the study, said the researchers are "a bit wary" of pet owners feeding homemade raw diets. He said pet owners risk exposing cats to increased pathogens and nutrient imbalances.

Pet owners often feed trimmed cuts of meat. These cuts lack fat, which is crucial in feline diets. According to the researchers, if pet owners feed raw meat diets, they will likely have to supplement it with other nutrients, including appropriate sources of fat and essential fatty acids.

There was also some discussion of how raw meat diets alter the gut flora, which the SmartBrief blurb seemed to imply was a newly-discovered and negative effect, despite at least one earlier study that found grain-based diets also alter the gut flora of kittens -- a Phys.Org article they somehow neglected to feature when it came out late last year.

Apparently the editors of the AVMA SmartBrief took it upon themselves to take a balanced piece of research that contains truly useful information about feline diets and spin it to fit the AVMA's established anti-raw diet stance.

The AVMA is entitled to its own views on raw pet diets, and I have no problem with discussions of bacterial contamination in pet foods. Heck, I wish they'd be as concerned about the contamination of the entire food chain with fecal bacteria, and start throwing their weight around preventing the bacteria from getting in there in the first place instead of turning it into a home kitchen problem that can only be solved by sterilizing our food before eating it or feeding it to our pets.

But to deliberately twist the content and meaning of a scientific study to bolster their position? They should be ashamed.

05 February 2013

Eleven representatives of national animal organizations and state shelters have joined in asking for an investigation of the shooting of five caged dogs by a police officer in a municipal shelter in Selma, California.

From the letter, addressed to Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth A. Egan:

We have learned of the shooting that happened at the Selma Animal Shelter last week, during which an unnamed officer allegedly shot five dogs still inside their closed kennels. In at least one television news interview, Selma’s police chief Myron Dyck not only admitted that the incident occurred, but stated that such action was justified because the dogs were allegedly aggressive and already slated for euthanasia. In another news story, Selma’s City Manager D-B Heusser is quoted as saying about these dogs and the shooting: “They were very aggressive… It had to be done."

We cannot express strongly enough that both the actions of the officer in question and the defense of such actions are unacceptable, and we request that you investigate the incident and pursue every appropriate legal recourse to hold this officer accountable.

The officer in question shot five dogs while they were still inside in their kennels, allegedly because he feared for his life. We in the animal care and control industry cannot fathom a scenario where a dog safely behind closed kennel bars would be able to inflict bodily injury on a human standing on the outside of the kennel.

[...]

Animal shelters are intended to be safe havens for pets that are homeless, abandoned, abused, neglected, or otherwise in need of care. The people entrusted with this important responsibility should exemplify the highest standards of compassion, regardless of the animals’ physical appearance or behavioral status. We understand more than anyone else the challenges and demands that animal control professionals face every day, and we are proud to stand behind the men and women who perform this lifesaving work humanely and professionally (including, we trust, others who care for animals at the Selma Animal Shelter). However, as the facts have been reported in this case, we find no excuse or justification for the callous disregard for animals this officer exhibited. Moreover, we cannot stand behind an agency or its leadership that would permit such a horrific abuse of the public’s trust to take place and do anything other than condemn it.

Update from Jennifer Fearing: "Ledy vanKavage, Esq., Sr. Legislative Attorney, Best Friends Animal Society, has also aligned
with the sentiments in the letter and will follow up with Selma
officials to add on."